Police Low-Life Commentary

Scotty asked that this to be posted, his situation was mentioned in this letter to Olympia Power and Light, by Bruce Wilkinson:

"Thumbs up on improving the OP&L website. Your local news content, articles on music and performance as well as the cartoons by Chelsea Baker are all good. I consistently hate the Olympia lowlife police blotter. It has nothing of redeeming value to it. This column confirms that OP&L doesn't have a deep analysis of the problems of mainstream media. This section is not news, is not entertaining, provides no insight into Olympia crime and basically lacks any redeeming value. It is a feel good about the police section when the mainstream media floods us with feel good about police media. If I wanted to hear about dumb criminals and how great cops were I would open the Olympian, turn on the TV, watch the dozens of Law and Order spinoffs or watch movies like End of Watch."

"The Olympia Police, Thurston County Sheriff and the WA State Patrol all converge in downtown Olympia. The Olympia Police are by far the least well regulated and professional by design. In the past there have been a great number of questionable Olympia police actions. There is no citizen oversight or accountability, at least the Thurston Sheriff is elected and the State Patrol sticks to the capitol campus and mostly behaves professionally. Having been someone who has filed complaints against the Olympia Police on behalf of a third party, I can tell you that their process is deeply flawed. For a little while there was a police auditor although it was cut because of budget reasons in 2009. To read those old auditor reports though is laughable but it was the best we had. Each auditor's report reads like this: "There were x number of complaints filed against the police. I audited a percentage of x. I agree 100% with the police who 100% of the time cleared their own names. Thanks for the $20 grand, please keep me in the job."

"It is statistically improbable that 100% of all complaints of excessive force made against the police were false. It is a very scary thing to make an official complaint about police misconduct. I would suspect that only 1 in 90 incidents end up with an official complaint seen all the way through. People who actually do go through that process would likely have a legitimate argument. To make a complaint you have to be interviewed by police officers from the same force that may have traumatized you and be voice recorded by them. Having been through that process, I know that it is uncomfortable even as a third party. The police investigator certainly acts professional and writes up a neat and tidy report but in so many ways it is a chance for them to get their story straight and delay any potential punishments. It took months to hear the outcome, which was that they did nothing wrong and it certainly wasn't audited. To have none of the complaints of excessive force ever come up as confirmed is a condemnation of the process.

"An example of excessive force, years after the incident although it is still in process through the courts, Thurston County is still trying to prosecute Scott Yoos, who is mute, charged with felony assault of an officer. In that case Scott, who is well known in the community for his volunteering with Works In Progress, the Olympia Film Society and the Food Co-op, was said to look suspicious as he threw away some papers in a dumpster on his bike ride home. Unable to communicate, the police called in back up saying he was waving his arms ecstatically, as in signing, the officer then proceeded to take away his pen and paper, his only way of communicating and tie his arms behind his back. This made Scott very upset, this would be the equivalent for someone who can speak having a gag put in their mouth. Then the officers pushed him to the ground roughly and put him in the back of the police car and booked him, letting him go several hours later. Later they accused him of felony assault of an officer.

"The prosecutor would probably love to drop the case, which is by every standard moronic, but doing so would possibly leave the police open to a civil case so they are continuing with it at a glacial pace. This would be an example of the police doing everything in its power to hide any admission of wrong doing. Being afraid of legal action is not a good reason to ignore issues of police misconduct. There is mediation and other ways of dealing with complaints.

"There is also reason to believe that police forces across the country are becoming more violent. There is a pipeline that runs from the army to the police force. This pipeline has been currently pumping in people with PTSD from excessive tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our police force is more militarized than ever. The police are also working more closely with intelligence agencies in joint task forces and laws around the country are being passed that change police forces to immigration control forces and tasked with intelligence gathering. There is little doubt that the Olympia Police is happily doing the bidding of the federal government and keeping tabs on activism, likely all activism, the mundane and peaceful isn't easily distinguishable from the 1% of activism that some might consider a public safety concern. There is a huge amount of federal money for police forces if they work on these things, even though they are likely not as well trained.

"The Olympia Lowlife could instead be a place for Citizen Accountability of the police. It could be the space for anonymous complaints, along with citizen praise. It could be a spot for a community conversation of police accountability and about the demilitarizing of the police. It could be a great spot for an ongoing conversation about crime and prevention. Then it could be important or at least worth reading." — Bruce Wilkinson